It’s such a joy to watch as my kids grow up. One of the things that warms my heart is our family prayer time. Before each meal, we’ll hold hands and say a simple prayer together. My kids have already learned what to do. As soon as I sit down at the table, they’ll both reach out their hands and bow their heads. I’ll word the prayer and as soon as I get to “…in Jesus’ name,” both kids throw their hands up in the air and chime in with their own little “Amen!” It actually sounds more like “may-men”, but I think it still counts.

Obviously, this makes me feel good as a parent. I know this daily routine is no guarantee that our children will someday be faithful disciples of Christ, but since they’re not even 2 yet, I’m feeling pretty good about all this.

But, in all honesty, I hope I’m not teaching my kids to have a legalistic attitude toward prayer. I was taught that good boys and girls pray before meals and before bedtime. I was taught that the proper prayer posture was head bowed, eyes closed. The cardinal offense in Sunday school class was failure to acknowledge these prayer rules. As an adult, I can appreciate what my teachers were trying to do. They were attempting to cultivate an attitude of reverence in me. And while I appreciate their good intentions, I learned far more than they intended. Prayer became a legalistic act for me long before I understood legalism. Prayer was a perfunctory work of righteousness rather than a relational act between Father and child. I still struggle to overcome that sometimes.

Richard Foster says it’s impossible to master something intended to master us. I’ve stopped trying to master the act of prayer. You can call me obstinate I guess, but I’ve stopped bowing my head. I don’t close my eyes anymore. And while I’m thrilled my children are learning to talk to their Father, I want them to have a deeper, richer understanding of prayer than I had as a child. That’s my prayer for them.